Right Under My Nose
by TakeMyHandHoldItTight
Summary: Shortly after high school, Troy and Gabriella break up. Gabriella doesn't tell Troy that she's pregnant. 16 years later she still refuses to tell her daughter anything about her father. Alyssa Montez then decides to hire a private detective; Troy Bolton
1. Prologue

**Right Under My Nose**

**Prologue**

**August, 2008.**

**Gabi's P.O.V**

"College- college is what's important Gabriella! In a _month_ I'm going to be going to U of A".

"You don't think I already know that? I'm going to be going to Stanford, and if you ask me, that's going to be much more advanced than U of A!".

Troy groaned and buried his head in his hands.

Fight.

That's all Troy and I have been doing lately. And to be honest, I'm getting sick and tired of it.

Troy and I met at a New Years party almost 3 years ago. We've been dating pretty much ever since.

We used to never fight.

But that was before the talk of college.

When Troy and I first started dating, we were sort of like Romeo and Juliet. We were both in different 'cliques' but broke out of them to be together. Ever since we've been inseparable. Our friends even call us Troyella because they got tired of saying "Troy and Gabriella, Troy and Gabriella, Troy and Gabriella". But ever since we started thinking about college, specifically colleges far apart from each other (University of Albuquerque and Stanford University) we've been more like Noah and Allie from The Notebook. We're both in love with each other (even if we are young), but we're always fighting about little things. One minute we'll be hanging out, having a good time and then one of us will bring up college and all of a sudden we'll be having this big fight. It never gets physical or anything serious like that, but still. It's tiring. And we both know that all this fighting isn't good for our relationship, but neither of us seem to be able to stop the argument until one of us almost breaks down.

And by the looks of Troy right now, his hair all messy from running his hand through it continually and his face buried beneath his hands, I'm guessing he's the one who's broken down this time. I sigh heavily and go to sit down next to him on his porch. I have an urge to hold his hand, or rest my head on his shoulder, anything to attempt to comfort him, but I have a feeling I shouldn't_. "Maybe I should just let him calm down first", _I decide.


	2. Chapter 1

**Right Under My Nose**

**Chapter 1**

**May 20****th****, 2025**

**Alyssa's P.O.V**

Most of my friends live with both their mother and father and have a pretty good relationship with them, if not a great one. A couple of my friends' parents are divorced or separated and they live with their mother and see their father often. One of my friends' father died when she was 8 but she still has lots of great memories of him.

I am 15 years old and have never met my father. I have lived with my mother my whole life and never once has she even mentioned my father. I don't know what he looks like, I don't know how old he is. I don't know if he's nice, mean, or has no personality at all. I don't know if he is like me, or if he has the same blue eyes as me. I don't know if he ever thinks about me, wishes he were with me and my mother or if he even knows I exist.

_I don't even know his name._

Throughout my entire life, I have asked my mother about my father. No matter how I approached the subject, she has always shied away from it.

My mother, Gabriella Montez, is a kind, hardworking woman of 34. She had me when she was almost 19, which was very hard for her, considering she had already planned on going Stanford University. She originally was going to wait a few years to go, what with a newborn baby. But my grandmother graciously offered to take care of me while my mother was at school, so she didn't have to put her life on hold for me. My mother graduated from Stanford when I was 4, with a Journalism Bachelor's Degree. She now works for the Los Angeles Times newspaper and lives with me in Glendale, California, a suburb outside of Los Angeles. My mother is generally a happy, strong person, but when it comes to my father, she's reserved and well…vulnerable.

She hates it whenever I bring him up in a conversation. In all my 15 years, I have tried to get her to talk about him. And lately I've been more witty about it, probing her about it in easy, casual conversations to try to get her to slip and say something, anything about him. She's usually very good about changing the subject though, probably something she acquired while studying journalism in college. Once, she slipped and started to blurt out something about him. Lucky for her though (but frustrating for me), the phone rang and she immediately grabbed it before she could reveal anything and actually (god forbid) tell me one little thing about my _father_.

I've never understood why she won't let me know anything about him. My mother's a smart woman and even though she had me just out of high school, I really doubt my father is someone for her to be ashamed of. There's only 3 reasons I could think of as to why my mother wont let me know anything about my father.

1) My mother was raped when she was 18 and she doesn't want me to know about it.2) My mother had a summer fling and she doesn't even know what happened to her one-night stand/father of her child.3) My mother was dating a man much older than her (maybe older than 21) and when she got pregnant with me and told her boyfriend he wanted nothing to do with her or his baby.I realize all these reasons are probably very untrue, but when your mother wont tell you anything, you tend to jump to conclusions.

So you're probably wondering, if I think that my father may be this horrible man that knocked up my sweet, innocent mother, then why do I want to know things about him? Why do I want to know what he looks like, if he knows about me and most importantly, who he is?

Well haven't you ever heard that curiosity killed the cat?

Even if my father is a total jerk, I still want to know who he is. I mean, wouldn't you?

If you had this mysterious unknown father whom you have never met in all of your almost 16 years of life, wouldn't you want to know about him? Wouldn't you want to meet him?


	3. Chapter 2

**Right Under My Nose**

**Chapter 2**

**May 20th, 2025**

**Troy's P.O.V**

It was another long work day at the police station in Los Angeles and I just couldn't seem to leave, even though my boss told me I could go home early. I told him it was alright, I wanted to look over my latest assignment more. He just shrugged, and asked me to lock up when I left. The detective offices at the police station was a small section compared to the overall large police building, and I had worked here so long that he could trust me with it. As he left the detective offices, I heard him chatting with another detective about how dedicated I was. The truth was though, I didn't want to leave my office, and go home. It was always too lonely at my large loft, and tonight I knew it would be even more. For today, 16 years ago I lost my first love.

I met Gabriella Montez when I was 16 and we soon became close. From the moment I met her and sang with her, I knew she was special. By the time we were seniors in high school I was completely in love with her. The only problem was school. Both of us had dreams of making it big in this world, her as a journalist and I as a basketball player. And that was our weakness. In the summer before college we were fighting constantly, always about school. I was going to the University of Albuquerque to pursue a career in basketball, and Gabi was going to Stanford to continue studying english, writing and journalism. We were both going our separate ways, we knew that, but we thought it could work.

It didn't. We broke up before we headed off to college, and never spoke again. My heart was crushed, I still loved her, I still do love her to this day. But we were young, we didn't know how to stay together and make it when we were so far away, going such opposite paths in life. That first year of college was excruciating for me. We had mutual friends, so I would often hear about how Gabriella was doing from my high school friend Chad Danforth (he was dating Gabriella's best friend Taylor McKessie at the time). I tried to get over her with basketball, my usual escape from the harsh reality of life was without Gabriella Montez. On the bright side, my team did great with their centre player working extra hard. Only Chad knew the reason why.

You're probably wondering how I went from Troy Bolton the basketball boy to Det. Troy Bolton, PI. Well while I was working extra hard in attempt to get Gabriella out of my head, my coach at U of A promoted me to team captain. I was thrilled, and really pumped for our first game with me as the team's captain. Unfortunately, there was an accident in the last 5 minutes of the game, and I broke my leg in three different places. I was in crutches for 7 months and was regretfully kicked off the team by my coach. My doctor said I would never be able to play basketball again.

I fell into a deep depression after that, having lost the two most important things in my life, the girl I loved and basketball. My roommate at U of A, whom I had become friends with, suggested I find a new major that I was interested in. He was studying to become a policeman, and after having many talks with him about it, I decided to venture into the police field. I knew I didn't want to be a police officer, but the private investigation sector really interested me. I took a few courses on criminal justice and police science and before I knew it I had a bachelor's degree and started doing some co-op with private investigators. By the time I was 30 I had been transferred to LA to work as a Private Investigator for the LAPD. It was a good job, and I really enjoyed it. But my social life didn't improve. Some friends of mine tried to set me up with a few blind dates over the years, but after the fifth one they gave up and let me be. I don't mind it that much, I have my job which keeps me busy. But when I go home, I'm reminded why I'm so lonely.

* * *

"Bolton!" I jerked my head up to see my boss with his head angled towards my phone. "You have someone that wants to talk to you. It's a missing persons report," he said. I nodded and picked up the phone.

"Detective Troy Bolton, what's your problem?" The other end was silent for a moment, and then a teenage girl's voice spoke.

"I, I need your help. I need to find someone. My father."

"Okay, um, how long has he been missing?"

"He hasn't, I mean, he isn't. I just...I need to find him."

"So you're not filing a missing person's report?"

"Well, no. I called because you're the closest Private Investigator I could find. I don't have much information on him, but I do have money. I-"

"How about you come over to my office tomorrow and we'll work out the details," I suggested. I wasn't completely convinced that this wasn't some high school prank, I needed to see if this girl was telling the truth.

* * *

**May 21st, 2025**

**Alyssa's P.O.V**

"Alyssa, hurry up with your breakfast." Getting out of my daze, I quickly continued eating my toast. "Are you alright hun?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired. You know, Monday and all." In all truth, I was tired because I hardly got a wink of sleep the night before. I couldn't stop thinking about what I had done before my mother had come home from work yesterday.

I was just reading a book, one of the many that my mom's friend/co-worker Tina had suggested to me, when I got the bright idea to call a Private Investigator. I had been pondering it for a few months now, but up until yesterday evening I never really thought I would have the guts to do it. I knew I wanted to find out who my father was though, so I had been saving up money for a PI since I got a summer job at a book store near my house. Calling Detective Bolton was pretty out of character for me, really. I had his number for a few days, thinking maybe I'd call him and see if he could help me, but probably not. I'm never the type to take risks, but this time, I felt like I had to. So now, I had a couple thousand dollars, and a Private Investigator who could hopefully help me find my father. _Hopefully_ being the operative word.

* * *

"Lyssa!" Upon hearing my best friend Aaron's voice as he ran up to me in the hallway, I smiled and turned around. Aaron and I had been best friends ever since I bumped into him on my way to my first class on my first day of high school. He's a year older than me, and a complete geek, which is great because I've never exactly been Miss. Popular either. I have other friends besides Aaron, but he is definitely the one I'm closest to.

"Somebody's perky today," I said, teasing him a bit. Aaron rolled his eyes and kissed me on the cheek. Oh did I forget to mention? For a couple weeks now, Aaron and I have been trying the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing. It's nothing serious, and we're still more like friends than anything, but it's nice to hold hands/kiss the guy you've had a bit of a crush on for about 6 months. So we haven't actually _really_ kissed yet, but we're taking it slow. For now I'm good with the holding hands in the hallway and the occasional good morning kiss on the cheek thing.

"So...today is a very big day Alyssa," Aaron said, raising his eyebrows in a goofy manor.

"Oh it is, is it? What's today?" I asked, playing along and laughing a bit.

"Today, I got my first car," he replied matter-of-factly, a grin spreading across his face.

"That's great Aaron! Oh my goodness, did your parents just show it to you this morning before you left for school?"

"Yep, went outside after breakfast, and there it was, a nice little black Audi. I mean it's a little old, and could use some work, but it runs pretty good."

"Maybe you could drive us to Disneyland one day," I said smiling.

"I most certainly can m'lady," Aaron replied cheekily. I laughed and opened my locker, taking out my books for the morning.

"So, what's new with you Alyssa?" I thought about Detective Bolton and looked around quickly making sure no one was in earshot.

"I have an appointment with a private investigator today," I said hesitantly. Aaron's facial expression changed from happy to tense.

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" he asked, clenching his teeth slightly. Aaron knew I wanted to find my father, but in his opinion it was better that I let my mom tell me about him rather than go behind her back.

"I have to know him Aaron," I said quietly, looking down at my feet.

"What time is it at?"

"Four-thirty, mom won't be home 'till six and anyway she won't know because I'll be working from five to eight." Aaron sighed and laced his fingers in mine.

"I'll drive you there," he said lullingly. If there was one quality that I didn't like about Aaron, it was his over protectiveness. He was sweet, but sometimes he went a little overboard. His mom left when he was 10, and his dad worked so often that he took care of his 8 year old twin brothers more than his dad did sometimes.

"Aaron you really don't have to, I mean it'll probably just be a quick appointment and then I'll just go home and get ready for my shift."

"Lyssa my dad's a lawyer. I know enough from him that I'd be able to tell if this private investigator will be able to help you. Besides, you could consider it...moral support." I kissed his fingers lightly and let them go.

"I have to get to class. Meet me at my locker at three," I said amenably. Aaron briefly smiled and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before he dashed off to homeroom.

* * *

School seemed to go on forever that day, but after the short 10 minute car ride to the LAPD offices, I was suddenly feeling really nervous.

When we got to the third floor where the detective offices were my stomach was in knots. I think Aaron sensed that because he rubbed his thumb on the palm of my hand as we went to the receptionist's desk.

"I have an appointment to see Detective Troy Bolton," I said meekly. The receptionist stopped typing at her computer, looked up at me, then typed some more.

"Ah yes. You're Miss. Montez correct?" I nodded my head and Aaron squeezed my hand.

"He'll be with you shortly. You can wait over there until he's ready for you," she said pointing to a small waiting area. I walked over to it and sat in a chair next to Aaron. I tried to distract myself with a magazine that was on the table next to me but it didn't help much. I looked around me. There was four people in the waiting area, most of them looking tense and fidgeting. One woman looked like she was about to cry any minute.

I waited 15 minutes until a tall, relatively young man walked out of his office and called my name.

"I'll just wait out here," Aaron said. He gave my hand one more squeeze before I let go and walked out of the waiting room into Detective Bolton's office.


End file.
